i havent watched marshall live but the videos i have seen of his just makes me wonder what it would have been like watching him live. I would definetly have him in the top 2 of my all-time fast bowlers list, which also includes Mcgrath.

in my opinion, he was the greatest fast bowler ever...as to the best bowler ever, well i would put him in a group of 5 that includes hadlee, lillee, murali and barnes....mcgrath just outside of the group...

I'm, unfortunately, not really well-versed in cricket players and how good they were pre-1996 (except Bradman, of course!). So I can't really say where he'd stand over all, but I do consider McGrath as best ever on my list of fast bowlers seen.

I think it's a little difficult to compare cricketers across eras, for obvious reasons. It seems safe to say, though, that both Marshall and Barnes were among the best, if not the best, during their respective careers.

Probably a consideration I would make in answering this question is: was Marshall as integral to WI dominance as McGrath was to Australia's? Certainly seems that way. It is also obvious that the Windies really crumbled following his retirement and many people would claim the same sort of "low" period is hitting/about to hit Aus in the near future even if it probably won't be as dramatic as the slump WI cricket has been experiencing lately.

Probably a consideration I would make in answering this question is: was Marshall as integral to WI dominance as McGrath was to Australia's? Certainly seems that way. It is also obvious that the Windies really crumbled following his retirement and many people would claim the same sort of "low" period is hitting/about to hit Aus in the near future even if it probably won't be as dramatic as the slump WI cricket has been experiencing lately.

Marshall was a better bowler than McGrath but McGrath was more essential to Australia. At least Marshall had worldclass backup and supprting acts in Walsh, Ambrose, Patterson, Holding, etc. With McGrath, his pace backup was Brett Lee and Gillespie, fine bowlers but hardly matchwinners. Just check how the attack suffered overall when he was injured, such as the India tour of 97-98 and the Ashes 2005.

i've heard stories of marshall being near unplayable in the nets in his near 40's when he was coach and his team was struggling, he was unreal, what's even more unreal was how long he spent out of the team waiting for an opportunity.

History treats Barnes surprisingly kindly in my view. That he was a very good bowler can’t be doubted but he did get nearly half of his test wickets at less than 10 apiece (and had it not been for Herby Taylor that average would have been considerably less) against a South African side that great grandpa Dickinson would have treated with the same disdain as the current generation treats Bangladesh.

His wickets against Australia (and arguably he missed the series involving the strongest Australian sides of his era) and Yorkshire (who he only bowled against 4 times in championship cricket) cost about 22 and 26 each so rather different

As for Maco he was undoubtedly a great – a shorter man with a magnificent action, terrific pace and a lethal breakback – a latter day Harold Larwood – but not quite as good

History treats Barnes surprisingly kindly in my view. That he was a very good bowler can’t be doubted but he did get nearly half of his test wickets at less than 10 apiece (and had it not been for Herby Taylor that average would have been considerably less) against a South African side that great grandpa Dickinson would have treated with the same disdain as the current generation treats Bangladesh.

His wickets against Australia (and arguably he missed the series involving the strongest Australian sides of his era) and Yorkshire (who he only bowled against 4 times in championship cricket) cost about 22 and 26 each so rather different

As for Maco he was undoubtedly a great – a shorter man with a magnificent action, terrific pace and a lethal breakback – a latter day Harold Larwood – but not quite as good

They were a little funny about picking SF, but all the Aust that faced him had no doubt he was the best. I am just not sure he was a pace bowler